5 percent of federal workforce to be furloughed Friday

An administration official confirmed that about 115,000 employees from six
agencies will be furloughed Friday.

The Housing and Urban Development Department, the IRS, the Office of Management and Budget and the Environmental
Protection Agency will keep a majority of their staff at home. Employees at the
departments of Labor and Interior also will be taking furlough days.

HUD, IRS, OMB and EPA will not be offering services to the public or internal to
other agencies, except for emergency personnel.

A senior official at HUD said more than 8,400 employees will not be at work
Friday.

"Because all HUD offices will be closed tomorrow, there will be no walk-in
services available to members of the public," the official said. "For example,
among the many impacted will be homeowners looking for housing counseling
assistance, developers and municipalities who are seeking technical assistance for
or approval of their projects, or a homeless housing provider seeking guidance on
how to maximize their resources. Some HUD services will remain available to the
public, including the FHA Resource Center, the HOPE hotline, and the FHA National
Servicing Center; however contractors manning those operations will be unable to
escalate policy clarification or case-specific questions to HUD employees due to
the furlough, and clients may be required to call back on the next business day if
needed."

The official added HUD selected specific days to do their best to minimize the
impact on their customers, which is why furlough days will either precede a
federal holiday or be on a Monday or Friday.

Friday is HUD's first furlough day. Employees there will have to take seven, in
all, by Aug. 30.

IRS: Taxpayer Services to be affected

The IRS issued a press release last week detailing the impact of
furloughs on its services.

The tax agency said all toll-free hotlines, the Taxpayer Advocate Service and the
agency's nearly 400 taxpayer assistance centers nationwide will be closed.
Additionally, IRS employees will not process tax returns or do any compliance-
related activities.

"Because none of the furlough days are considered federal holidays, the shutdown
will have no impact on any tax-filing deadlines. The IRS will be unable to accept
or acknowledge receipt of electronically-filed returns on any day the agency is
shut down," the IRS stated. "Similarly, tax-payment deadlines are also unaffected.
The only tax payment deadlines coinciding with any of the furlough days relate to
employment and excise tax deposits made by business taxpayers."

Interior Spokeswoman Jessica Kershaw said the U.S. Park Police has already issued
furlough notices, but the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Indian Affairs
have not yet issued furlough notices.

"The Department of the Interior has already taken aggressive steps to reduce
spending across the agency and will continue to look for innovative ways to cut
costs while preserving our mission-essential activities," she said.

An Interior official also said about 50 percent of the agency's budget supports
staff, double the average of federal agencies.

"Implementation of the sequester has required difficult choices with direct
impacts to employees and our mission. We have implemented hiring freezes,
decreased overtime and comp time, and frozen awards. We have also reduced or
eliminated travel, conferences, training, grant programs, contracts and
cooperative agreements," the official said. "Our summer field season is our
busiest time of the year, however, we have had to reduce or cancel seasonal hiring
to meet the reductions. Since the sequester reductions must be implemented across-
the-board, some bureaus will have to furlough employees."

EPA Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe said earlier this year that each EPA
employee will be furloughed less than 10 days, with the number reduced to no more
than 79 hours for fiscal 2013.

EPA will reexamine its budget in mid-June, Perciasepe said, to determine if there
is flexibility in how many furlough hours employees will be required to take
during the rest of the fiscal year. Right now, it appears that it will not be more
than 79 hours total.

A request to EPA for more details on the impact of furloughs was not
immediately returned.

Labor started furloughs April 15 and will continue them through
September 21. More than 4,000 Labor employees received furlough notices.

A spokesman there tells Federal News Radio, "In agreement with unions at DoL, the
department allows employees flexibility to identify their furlough dates, as long
as they are approved by a supervisor, at least half of the required days are taken
by July 13, and the furloughs are taken in no less than 4-hour increments."